TBM TECH — POSITION DESCRIPTION AND OPERATING GUIDE
The game will let you advance the face without a geologist survey. Nothing in the interface stops you. Do not do this. What happens is documented under Deep Bore Events, and your character will be standing closest to it.
1 POSITION SUMMARY
The TBM Tech operates the tunnel boring machine at the working face of the deep bore. You are the reason the collider ring gets longer. It is a heavy-equipment and logistics role under the Quartermaster: keep the machine cutting, keep the muck moving out, keep the segments moving in. Low paperwork, high consequence.
This is one of the best first jobs on the roster. Your duties are concrete, your supervisor is one person, and the machine tells you what it needs. It is also the job most likely to be physically closest to whatever the current round is about, which is why the position is popular.
2 DUTIES
2.1 START OF SHIFT
Take the mantrip from Cargo to the TBM gallery (about ninety seconds of travel; you cannot walk it). At the operator console, check three things in order: cutterhead wear percentage, conveyor status, and the segment stock counter. If segment stock reads below 6, radio the Quartermaster before you cut anything — the machine will not let you advance past unlined tunnel, and segments take real time to arrive.
margin note: check the mantrip FIRST. if it's not at the cargo end somebody is already down there off-schedule, and you want to know that before you're alone in the gallery. —moth_actual
2.2 ADVANCING THE FACE
Advancing is a three-step cycle: request a survey from the Geologist, cut one segment length (the ADVANCE lever, held), then place a lining segment from stock. Each cut generates heat, muck, and a core reading. The core reading is transmitted automatically to Science; you do not need to do anything with it, and per the operating manual you are not cleared to interpret it.
Cutterhead wear increases per cut and faster in hard rock. Above 70% wear, cutting speed drops; above 90%, the head can seize mid-cut, which is a two-job repair (you plus an Engineer) and leaves the machine stopped at the face for the duration. Nobody enjoys that. Swap cutters at 70%.
2.3 MUCK-OUT
Every cut fills the muck skip. Run the skip back on the conveyor, tip it at the muck bay, return it. A full skip left at the face blocks the next cut. Muck tonnage is credited to Cargo and counts toward the site's supply points, so a diligent TBM Tech is directly funding everyone else's requisitions. Mention this when people are rude to you on the radio.
| STEP | TIME | NEEDS |
|---|---|---|
| SURVEY | ~60 s | GEOLOGIST ON SHIFT |
| CUT | 90–180 s | CUTTERHEAD < 90% WEAR |
| MUCK-OUT | ~120 s | EMPTY SKIP AT FACE |
| SEGMENT PLACE | ~45 s | SEGMENT STOCK ≥ 1 |
3 EQUIPMENT
You start each shift with hearing protection, a hard hat, a hand lamp, and the TBM gallery key. Everything else lives at the console. The radio channel for Cargo is :c. Standard callout format, which the old hands will hold you to:
:c TBM — FACE AT MI 54.02, CUT COMPLETE
:c TBM — WEAR 68 PCT, SWAPPING CUTTERS
:c TBM — STOCK 4, REQ 8 SEGMENTS TO GALLERY
:c TBM — STOPPING. SOMETHING IN THE MUCK.
(use the last one sparingly. it empties the bar.)
4 WORKING WITH OTHERS
The Quartermaster is your supervisor and controls your segment supply; keep them informed and they will keep you cutting. The Geologist rides down for surveys — they are the only other person with a routine reason to be in the gallery, so if you see anyone else down there, that is information. Engineers handle cutter swaps above 90% and conveyor faults. The Remote Systems Tech may ask you to hold cutting while a crawler is ahead of the face. Hold cutting. The crawler is more expensive than your time.
5 ADVICE FROM THE FLOOR
Cut steadily and log honestly, and the round tends to come to you rather than the other way around. Keep your hearing protection on at the face — mechanically it reduces one kind of event trigger, and the operating manual's phrasing on this ("personnel who cannot hear the face cannot be addressed by it") is generally taken to be load-bearing.
If a cut returns no core reading at all — not a strange reading, no reading — stop, tip your skip, and ride the mantrip up. File it on Form 7-A from the Cargo office, not the gallery phone. This is player consensus, not developer guidance, but it has been consensus for four wipes.